French playgroup for ages 5-10 once a month at Lafayette Public Library, featuring board games, crafts, and other interactive activities to encourage children to speak French with each other; meets the fourth Sunday of most months (check the library calendar to be sure) from 2:00-4:00

The Language of Food, French cooking classes for children and summer day camps in Boulder; the owner will also be opening a French immersion preschool in Boulder in Fall 2015

Parenting Place

French with Veronique (classes for ages 0-5, held Wednesday mornings at WOW! Children's Museum in Lafayette, taught by a native French speaker who is not a trained teacher); Griffin attended several sessions of this as a two- and three-year-old; it's better suited to kids who haven't been learning French at home already

Summer French camp at Boulder Country Day School (three hours/day for five days, ages ~5-10, taught by BCDS's French teacher); Griffin attended this in 2013 and I was very impressed with the variety of activities--fun but educational, including reading and writing practice

Summer French Camp at Colorado International School (a private school in Denver), a two-week-long day camp for preK-4th grade (unlike the other camps listed here, which start at around age 6); last year, the program director explained to a friend that the camp isn't actually immersion, because they get so many students who don't know French (don't get me started on this idea--a good teacher can teach a language without needing to speak English to do so)Mamans and Papas and Me, a meetup.com group based in Lone Tree, offering a weekly playdate with arts and crafts, ages 0-4, French fluency not required

6 comments:

Wow! I'm so impressed by the number of resources available in the Boulder, CO area for French language immersion for children. I'm an expectant single mom of a dual-citizenship baby in Nashville, TN. The father will be involved, but there is only so much that can occur through Skype, phone, etc., that will greatly impact my baby's French acquisition. Your website is a godsend; it definitely helps me to stay focused on my goal when my son will not be by his father's side. I wish that there were resources like these in Nashville. In the meantime, I will follow the advice on here and see how far I get with my soon to arrive little one's bilingual education.

Welcome to "Baby Bilingual" and congratulations on your pregnancy, M! Have you checked meetup.com to see if there are any Francophone playgroups in your area that you could join? What about classes at the Alliance Francaise (surely there's one somewhere in Tennessee, if not in Nashville itself)?

Hello my name is Emily Auck. I find your blogs WONDERFUL!! and very informative. Could you provide me information where I can find classes or interactive french groups, for ages 0-5, entirely in French? Unfortunately, Grand Rabbit's Play in Boulder has been closed since March.Thanks!

Thanks, Emily! Unfortunately, I only know of the classes, camps, and storytimes/playdates mentioned above. When my daughter starts kindergarten in the fall, though, I may try offering French immersion classes again. Please join the "Boulder County Fun With French" meetup group in the meantime! http://www.meetup.com/Boulder-County-Fun-with-French/

Alas, no. I've heard of some private preschools and elementary schools that include some instruction in French (Boulder Country Day School, a couple of Montessoris), but no immersion elementary programs between Denver and Fort Collins (FC has a Global Village Academy charter school campus that offers French immersion preschool and elementary).

Why don't you join our meetup group, Boulder County Fun With French, for announcements about all the other immersion activities that I can find? It's better than nothing! http://www.meetup.com/Boulder-County-Fun-with-French/

Bienvenue!

Welcome to Bringing up Baby Bilingual! Since 2006, I have used this blog to explore raising children with more than one language and to reflect on my efforts to teach French as a non-native speaker to theenfantsin my life--my son Griffin (8 years old), my daughter Gwyneth (4), my nephew Carl (10), my niece Eleanor (5), plus a few young students every year.

On this blog, you'll find profiles of bilingual and multilingual familles, resource recommendations, storytime suggestions, book reviews, discussions, descriptions of games and language learning activities, and--of course--stories about our petits bouts de choux.

my son Griffin (age 8)

Bibliophile, builder, soccer player, freestyle dancer, negotiator, never walks when he could run, does math for fun. Kind, compassionate, enthusiastic, creative. Quote: "If I had a superpower, it would be to never forget anything I read."

Moi

I'm a former French teacher who now tutors, reads, writes, procrastinates, and coordinates an enrichment program called Reading Buddies at the public library. I appreciate whimsy and good books and great cheese. And I'm a "maman"--my son Griffin was born in January 2008 and I speak exclusively French with him and his baby sister, Gwyneth (July 2011), just as I did with my nephew.